We've been old and on the way down for 10 years. Eventually someone is going to be right.

That's what they're hoping for. I just don't get the whole "old" thing, considering we're not that much older than the league average. A year maybe? And that's only because of Lidstrom. It's like when Chelios was throwing off the average. One player doesn't make an entire team suddenly too old to compete.

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I wrote this guy last year when he assured everyone that Steve Mason was gonna wipe the floor with Chris Osgood in the series.

Outside of Game 4, Ozzie dominated the BJ's.

"During Robert Lang’s time in Detroit, he caused me anguish. Other times he brought me and my family great joy. Robert Lang occasionally coasts, and spends time searching for the best pane of glass to best view the reflection of his flowing mullet. Other times he is a strong-armed force with the puck. I never knew what to expect from Robert Lang. He is The Enigma. " - A2Y

When the Wings won their first modern cup in 1997, Yzerman had just turned 32 years old, and Fedorov was 27. They were in the same points of their career as Datsyuk and Zetterberg are now. Yes, in the pre-salary cap era, the Wings had the ability to go buy or trade for star players, irrespective of salary, but:

(a) So did Colorado and any other serious contender at that time;
(b) The players the Wings "bought" were almost always OLDER players (Larionov, Murphy, Sandstrom). Shanahan was the same age as Fedorov.

Obviously, there's nothing wrong with having a core of players in the prime of their career, supplemented by younger energy players (Draper, Maltby, McCarty in '97; Helm, Abdelkader, Miller, etc. 2008-10). And "old" is not the same as "slow". Derian Hatcher wasn't necessarily old, but he sucked. Lidstrom is 40 years old but still effective. Chelios was very effective in 2002, and passable in 2008, but it's not like we don't have younger quality players too.

That looked like a fan blog rather than an article written by a professional. Sure there may be some truths to it, but for the most part, it looked pretty unprofessional to me.

It does scare me a bit sometimes to think about the future...what if Lidstrom retires? Datsyuk will be 32 later this year, Franzen 31, Zetterberg 30. Sure, they should still have some really solid years left, but they will start to slow down sometime over the next few years.

The key is the injection of the next stars as we go. That is the unknown and the unknown is what scares me. Guys like Zetterberg, Datsyuk and Franzen have come along to somewhat replace guys like Yzerman, Fedorov and Shanahan, but who is going to replace them in the next few years? Who is going to replace Lidstrom?

Edit: every team faces the same challenge though, which is why you tend to see teams go through peaks and valleys. Detroit has been very lucky to stay successful over the past 15-20 years though.

Pavel datsyuk is the best player in the world because he snatches the puck from unsuspecting players and follows it up by the simultaneous undressing of the defence pairing. The goalie then gives up, and flops like a fish. The end result is a calm skate back to his bench where he can bask in the praise of his multiple girlfriends from the motherland.

What do you expect? He's fromf****** Columbus. The one and only time they ever even made the playoffs, they were swept by an "old" team and forgotten about just as quickly as they entered the playoffs -- a non-factor. He obviously feels compelled to energize Blue Jacket fans because they're likely paying more attention to baseball and basketball right now. And if I recall correctly, people who write for them tend to try and stir the pot in this fashion, as hating a far more superior team makes for more interest it seems than cheering your own team on when they suck this bad.